As always, the GOP is silent when they come up against something they can't spin. I commented about that back in March, their usual procedure...

1. What can't be forgotten gets refuted.

2. What can't be refuted gets ignored.

3. What can't be ignored gets challenged.

4. What can't be challenged gets distorted.

5. What can't be distorted gets forgotten.

Repeat as often as necessary, until the offending reality goes away.

Their silence speaks volumes. Obviously Comey's account is right, and since he's apparently a loyal Republican (even if, from Bush League perspective, he's tainted by a belief in the Law that surpasses loyalty to Party), I think he has far more credibility than anybody who might try to spin it the administration's way.

But with an acquiescent press (CBS, ABC, hello??) not filling that silence, the story can rest in peace. So, the non-lapdog presses should keep on that story, like pit bulls with a chewbone.

As ever, a nice takedown of the Bush League, Mr. Blumenthal. Wolfowitz and Gonzales are political buccaneers, embodying the cronyism and criminality that runs to the heart of this administration.

Loyalty to the Leader is where you go when you know you're doing bad things, so you just hunker down, circle the wagons, and obey the Leader. I'm reminded of the motto of the Nazi SS...

My honor is loyalty

That motto, scarily enough, appears to be that of the Bush League, as well. To them, there is no honor where there is no loyalty; all consideration of loi aside, only the willingness to do the Leader's bidding matters in this administration. That's who Gonzales prospers, while others fall.

My hope is that the successors of this rogue regime will work hard to rake up the muck that's been piled up throughout our governing institutions.

The Republicans should fry in 2008 for their complicity in the Bush League's criminality. I hope the remainder of them get voted out in 2008 -- let the survivors be a stupid, vocal minority, but let them be gone. They had no problem rubberstamping the Bush League's edicts when they had the majority; only now, as such blind (and undemocratic) obedience to the Chief Executive is costing them, has the hangover kicked in.

The Democrats need to run on a platform urging further turnover in Congress so they can fix the problems created by the GOP. The GOP machine will cry foul, but they always do; never mind that their hardcore reactionary politicking created the problem to begin with.

I really figured venomous Renee and manic Jaslene would be the finalists. Natasha's quirky and odd; I didn't expect her to make it as far as she did.

I'm glad Renee didn't make the final two, though -- she struck me as a cross between "Basic Instinct" Sharon Stone and Elizabeth "Showgirls" Berkley: ruthless, hateful, and hard-eyed; she could be their lovechild.

Certainly a contrast with Natasha, who still managed a blithe Russian relentlessness with her run, despite her odd doll's eyes and goofy personality. Although I loathed her at the beginning, Natasha kind of grew on me. She's a weird one.

But I figured Jaslene was a shoe-in to win, just because you could sharpen eyebrow pencils against her protruding hips and slice bread with her clavicles, and she did manage an amazing Jekyll/Hyde transformation in pictures and in motion -- her still pictures always vastly surpassed Jaslene in motion.

So, despite being a Cover Girl, I think her best work'll turn up in stills, because in motion, she's just too much.

I do like that Ms. Havrilesky pointed out the weird quality of returning winners -- I agree; they have been consumed by the Machine and spat out in some new, fembot form. I've seen that with American Idol people, too -- I guess the industry of handlers transforms them that way, turns them into product.

Gore had his chance. He ran a weak campaign that only came to life as he was conceding. He had his chance, and he blew it. Had he run a little stronger, a lot bolder, he'd have won in 2000, despite the GOP coup plotters.

That, to me, says everything about where he's at. He ran a weak campaign, apparently at the mercy of his handlers, and when the GOP tried to steal the election, he let them.

Sorry. But Gore v2.0 is doing fine just where he is -- and frankly, why are people gushing about his environmental drumbeating? He didn't invent environmentalism -- he's a coattail rider. It's only because environmentalism gradually mainstreamed (and because he's famous) that he gets the props he does. People suddenly realized that it's an important issue; where ya been?

And as for this (from Lloyd)...

we don't need more polarization right now - hasn't six-plus years been enough to show you that?

Anybody the Democrats run with will be attacked vigorously and dirtily by the GOP. If decorated Vietnam War combat veterans had their records ruthlessly attacked, anybody's fair game -- the polarizers are on the GOP side, and any Democrat running toward the center is running toward a "center" that's been defined by that very same GOP. A "center" that is markedly to the right of what everyday Americans actually want, shown in poll after poll.

What we need is boldness, not acquiescence, timidity, and accommodation. Gore demonstrated those three qualities admirably in 2000, paving the way for the Bush League's Reign of Error. We need something new, and we need something more.

The scope and breadth of the problems the US faces in the 21st century demand that we demand more, and not less, of our leaders. Gore isn't the right person for the job.